SECOND CHANCES AT MG RANCH (9 page)

Chapter 15

In the study, Loren was rummaging through several titles on the book-shelves.
She was looking for something worth reading, in an attempt to get Sam off of her mind.

She finally settled on a romantic novel about a pirate at sea, who shares a fiery passion with a young woman whom he found stowed away on his ship.

Time ticked away as Loren got caught up in the love story that had begun to unfold between the pirate and the young woman. The more she read, the more she learned that the woman was the daughter of a very noble man from England, not the common girl that she posed to be.

Gallivanting around at sea with a Pirate and engaging in passionate lovemaking definitely went against the family values that had been drilled into the girl’s head all
of her life. But the girl was determined to live her own life and make her own choices. Her attraction to this mysterious pirate was just the place to start.

The Pirate knew that he should not encourage any amount of sexual activity between them, but when she came to him ready and willing he could not say no.
She made him weak with lust, made him forget that he was a pirate and she was a noble woman of high society. She made him long to capture more than just her beautiful body; he longed to capture her heart as well.

Several hours later, Loren had gotten so caught up in the story, that she barely heard the faint knocking on the door.
She turned her attention to the door for a moment to make sure that she had in fact heard someone knocking.

Yes, there it was again,
followed by Sam’s sultry voice.  “Loren, are you in there, are you okay?”

“I
’m fine,” she called back in answer, not getting up to open the door. The sound of her voice came out a little snippy.

A few moments of silence f
ollowed before Sam spoke again.  “I was wandering if you might be hungry.”

“I am not in the mood to cook,” she replied, still not making a move to open the door.

To her surprise, Sam opened the door this time before responding. “I thought I would cook for you this time.”

“Well, I guess if you are doing the cooking, then I might be a little hungry.”

Loren smiled at Sam, trying not to think about him kissing another woman. On the outside she appeared to be fine, but on the inside, she loathed him.

Loren followed Sam into the kitchen and the aroma of spaghetti and meatballs made her mouth begin to water
; along with the smell of garlic bread warming in the oven.

At first she was surprised that she had not heard him banging around in the kitchen while preparing the evening meal.
But thinking back, she had been so absorbed in her own thoughts and the book she had been reading, no wonder she hadn’t heard anything at all.

Taking her by the hand, he led her to the candle lit table.
She instantly had the urge to yank her hand from him grasp, but she forced herself to remain calm and let him assist her with her chair.

Once she was seated, he served her with a crisp garden salad, topped with vinaigrette dressing and poured them each a glass of red wine.

She had never really been fond of wine, but she sipped it anyway since Sam had gone to the trouble of picking one out. The more of it she drank, the better it tasted. She swished the warm liquid around in her mouth enjoying the newly acquired taste.

“You might want to slow down a bit on that wine,” Sam cautioned.

“Oh, right,” she said. With one motion, she sat her wineglass back down on the table, picked up her fork and speared a piece of lettuce, popping it into her mouth.

It was not Sam’s intention to get her intoxicated, but if she kept guzzling her wine like that, she would be.
Then again, that could prove to be to his advantage. It might just help her to relax a little bit and take the edge off her sour mood. Even though she was trying hard to hide it, he could sense that she was not a happy camper.

He guessed that he had been a little rough on her earlier when she couldn’t remember how to wrap the chain on the logs from one time to another.  But good grief, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to remember such a small task.

“This is really good, but you shouldn’t have gone to so much trouble, just for little ole’ me.”

“I am just returning the favor.”
He couldn’t think of anything else to say at the moment, so he focused his eyes back on the plate of food set before him.

Loren’s speech was already becoming a little slurred.
You would think that she had already drunk half a bottle instead of only half a glass. It was pretty obvious Loren did not have much experience with alcohol either.

She wanted to ask him about the woman he was with today, but doing so would only spoil the rest of their dinner.
So for now she would just keep her thoughts to herself. Why ruin a perfectly good dinner?

Polishing off her salad, she waited for Sam to serve the main course.
Spaghetti and meatballs just happened to be one of her favorite dishes, so she didn’t waste any time digging in.

Rich tomato flavor burst into her mouth with the first bite of spaghetti.
She hated to admit it, but this meal was just as good as if she had made it herself. She plopped a buttery piece of garlic bread into her mouth and chewed slowly to savor the flavor.

After she had eaten the last bite on her plate, Sam poured more wine in
to both their glasses. She sipped it a little more slowly this time.  She hoped the food she had just eaten would absorb most of the first glass that she had already consumed.

“I made apple strudel for dessert,” he said, interrupting her thoughts again.

“I don’t think I could eat another bite right now,” she moaned, rubbing her stomach.

Pushing back
her chair, she stood up only to realize that she was somewhat light headed from the wine.  When she tried to take a step forward, she swayed which caused her to be off balance.

Sam quickly got to his feet and reached out to grab her arm to keep her from falling.
Once she was steady enough to stand on her own, he released his hold on her arm.

“Sorry, it must be the wine.”
She paused long enough for the dizziness to subside. “I think I’m fine now.”

Her cheeks were stained a light shade of pink.
Sam couldn’t be sure if it was more from embarrassment or the intake of alcohol. Probably a little of both, he decided.

When Loren picked up her plate to start clearing the table, Sam put his hand on
top of hers in an effort to stop her from picking up another dish.

“I will clean up,” she offered.

“No, I made the mess, so I will clean it up. You just sit back down and relax. I will have it done in no time.”

Why was he being so nice to her?  “It is the least I can do.
After all, you did do all of the cooking.”

“Why don’t we save ourselves the argument and just do it together, what do you say?”
He was trying to lighten the mood between them, but she wasn’t budging.

Women, they were so complicated sometimes.  Well, most of the time.
He hadn’t found one that he could figure out yet and probably never would.

Loren interrupted his though
ts with the sound of her voice. “It’s a deal, but only if I can wash. I have always hated to dry,” she insisted.

After filling the left side of the sink with water and dish soap, she began washing the plates and rinsing them before handing them over to Sam to dry and put away, trying to be extra careful not to brush her knuckles against his.
She needed to keep her head clear. Touching him would only cloud up her mind again and that combined with alcohol could spell big trouble.

Sam dried the last plate and reached around behind her to put it inside the cabinet located on her left, brushing up against her backside.
She was pretty sure that he had meant to do it, but pretended not to notice and continued washing the big spaghetti pot that was in her hands.

It was no time at all before they had the table cleared, dishes washed, dried, and put away and Loren was relieved that they had accomplished it with very little contact other than the one incident of him brushing up against her backside.

“Would you like more wine?” Sam offered, as he sat back down at the table.

Knowing that she should refuse, Loren held out her glass to him, allowing it to be filled once more.
She then sat back down opposite him. Although she was feeling much better, she was still feeling the effects of the previous two glasses that she had already drank. She made herself a mental note, that this would definitely be her last glass for the evening.

Lifting the glass to her lips, she slowly sipped the newly refilled glass, her eyes never leaving his.
He was looking back at her very intently as if he were trying to read her thoughts again, which he seemed to do a lot lately.

Sometimes she felt like he could actually see all the way to her soul. But if that were true, he would already know how much she loved him and it was obvious that he had no clue about that
.

Dear lord, it was happening again.
Her mind was just racing all over the place. It must be the wine. It had to be the wine.

“What are you thinking?”  Sam asked to break the silence.

“You probably don’t want to know.”

“Try me,” he said.

“Let’s play truth or dare instead,” she suggested. Now where in the world did that idea come from? Why would she suggest playing such a stupid and dangerous game? Because she was insane, that’s why!

“Well, okay if you think you can handle it.”
He was smirking again. Loren felt her blood start to boil. He definitely had a way of getting under her skin sometimes.

“What is your full name?” she asked.

“Is that all you got?” he said, teasingly.  His answer caught her off guard, almost causing her to choke on the wine.

She took a deep breath,
“Just answer the question or take the dare.”

“Okay fine, I choose truth. 
My full name is Samuel Bartholomew Burton.”

Loren burst out laughing, almost choking on
the sip of wine she had just taken. “You have got to be kidding me.” She was laughing so hard that tears sprang to her eyes.

“I am glad to see that my full name amuses you, and no, I am not kidding you,” he replied with a straight face.
“Now it is my turn.”  He paused a moment before directing his question at her.  “Do you regret your move to MG Ranch, truth or dare?”

Loren took another sip of the warm liquid, swishing it around in her mouth for a moment, then swallowing before answering.

“Truth.  No, I do not regret my move to MG. It has proven to be a little more than I expected, but definitely adventurous,” she added.

She noticed how his body took on a more relaxed pose at her words, which just confused her even more.
Sam was such a mystery to her and she was beginning to think that she would never get him figured out.

It was true that it did please Sam that she didn’t regret the decision to move to the ranch and hoped that it meant that she planned to stay. Maybe there was hope for them after all.
He sure hoped so anyway.

He had never met anyone like Loren and after having lunch with Stephanie earlier in the day, he was absolutely sure that he was ready to put her behind him and move on, hopefully with Loren.

But first, he needed to find out if she felt the same way before he poured his heart out to her. He did not want to make the same mistakes as before. One broken heart was enough to last a lifetime.

“It’s my turn again,” she said, retrieving him from his thoughts.
“Do you believe in love at first sight, truth or dare?”

Sam did not h
esitate with his answer.  “Truth.  Yes, I do believe it could happen.”

His answer should not have made her heart soar with delight after seeing him with that woman today, but it did.

On Sam’s next turn, he took on a more serious tone. “Are you romantically involved with someone else down in Atlanta, truth or dare?” He should not have asked such a personal question, but he needed to know.

Loren looked directly at him and stared into his eyes for a brief moment before answering.
It puzzled her that he would even ask her such a question, considering that he was still obviously playing the field.

“Truth
.  No I am not romantically involved with anyone.”

She continued to watch as he digested her answer.
He let his breath out very slowly as if that was the answer that he had been hoping for. His actions tonight were really starting to confuse her even more.

She summoned up all the nerve she had when asking the next question
.  “Tell me about the girl who broke your heart long ago.”

For a fraction of a second, she thought she saw his color take on a paler shade.
He looked away from her, and then when his eyes moved back to her face, he appeared normal except for the stiffness in his posture. Although he was trying to hide it, Loren could tell that she had hit a raw nerve. Nothing to do about it now except to wait for his answer.